1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of depaneling systems, and in particular, to depaneling systems with cleaner and more efficient operation.
2. Statement of the Problem
There are a variety of machines used to cut Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) out of a stock panel. Some of the PCBs that are cut are have components on them, and other PCBs are bare. Most machines on the market have a saw with a blade or router bit that is fixed in the machine and faces upwardly. The machines also have movable tooling positioned above the saw. To cut the PCBs out of a panel, the panel is clamped into the tooling. The tooling is then moved into place above the saw. The tooling then moves the panel over the saw to cut the PCBs from the panel.
There are other machines that have a movable saw. The saw may be positioned above the tooling instead of below the tooling. To cut the PCBs out of a panel, the panel is again clamped into or set onto the tooling. The tooling is then moved into place underneath the saw. The saw then moves over the panel to cut the PCBs from the panel. Some examples of depaneling systems are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,648, U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,740, U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,554, U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,789, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,615, which are all hereby incorporated by reference.
Most of the machines include some kind of suction with the saw to catch dust generated by cutting the PCBs. Unfortunately, these machines only catch the dust particles from one side of the PCB, that being the saw side. Dust on the other side of the panel, that being the tooling side of the PCB, may drift into the air.
The current machines also are direct drive, meaning that the saw blade is directly connected to the motor. Such a configuration saves space and allows for use or saw blades or router bits. Direct drive saws spin at speeds between 10,000 to 50,000 rpm. Unfortunately, these high speeds shorten the life of the saw blades. The high speeds also generate finer dust when cutting, which makes it more difficult to collect the dust during cutting.